Meizu Mblu Lifeme Pro Portable DAC/Amp Review

[Nango]

Current consumption only 27mA IS great, wont drain Phone's battery that quick.

 

[TheWalkman]

Mine regularly surprises me with good recordings. Stick to IEMs and sensitive examples of full-size cans and you should be fine.
When I saw what this was, I half expected a mention given the ubiquity of "the $9 phone dongle". It's been around long enough to get a seniors discount...

Aperiodic,

The Apple Dongle DAC is an oldie but goodie!

Seriously, I‘ll bellyache about not having a 3.5mm jack on my iPhones but for $9, the dongle is a decent enough workaround and isn’t expensive enough to get worked up about.

 

[Ismapics]

Aperiodic,

The Apple Dongle DAC is an oldie but goodie!

Seriously, I‘ll bellyache about not having a 3.5mm jack on my iPhones but for $9, the dongle is a decent enough workaround and isn’t expensive enough to get worked up about.

I heat shrink mine and they last years

 

[mc.god]

Happy to see it reviewed, always been curious how much worse it could be compared to the old Meizu HiFi and in general what one could expect from these Conexant based dongles.

Regarding the jitter issue, I have been using as pure DAC another Conexant CX31993 based similar device on a linux computer and checked that the usb interface works in adaptative mode now considered almost obsolete vs async mode offering better jitter performance and now ubiquitous on state of the art DACs using an XMOS chip based USB interface. At this price point no XMOS inside...

Don't know about original Meizu HiFi Pro but my Ugreen HiFi, that should be a clone of it (CS43131+OPA1622) goes in sync mode too:

UGREEN UGREEN HiFi Audio Amplifier at usb-0000:00:1d.7-3, high speed : USB Audio
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Playback:
Status: Stop
Interface 1
Altset 1
Format: S24_3LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (SYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 24
Interface 1
Altset 2
Format: S16_LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (SYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 16
Interface 1
Altset 3
Format: S32_LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 2 OUT (SYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Bits: 32

And infact L7audiolab test, despite many good measures, revealed similar jitter issues.
Anyway I couldn't be happier having bought it when it was available 20 months ago.

 

[Natal]

Aperiodic,

The Apple Dongle DAC is an oldie but goodie!

Seriously, I‘ll bellyache about not having a 3.5mm jack on my iPhones but for $9, the dongle is a decent enough workaround and isn’t expensive enough to get worked up about.

My wife with her iPhone 11 for a while sent through an Apple dongle about once every 2 weeks. One has to be careful not to tug too heavily on it.

 

[amirm]

I gave one of my dongles to my wife to use. Last a month before the cable became intermittent.

 

[jasonhanjk]

7Hz 71 dongle is much better than this.

 

[pavuol]

Do not confuse this with previous lower powered model while shopping ("non Pro version"):

Meilan (mblu) Lifeme HiFi Audio Headphone Amplifier Pro / rated 60mW @ 32 ohm / CX31993 + MAX97220 Amp (model "HA02")
Meilan (mblu) HiFi Decoding Headphone Amplifier / rated 31mW @ 32 ohm / CX31993 + unspecified amp

"Pro" version has clear designation on the body and also some notched metal ring on the jack side.

EDIT: found some more info on bulgarian site, updated info above

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

If there an iPhone version?

I’m amazed this isn’t an integral part of any and every portable dac/amp review. It’s not as if there are only 2 or 3 people with iPhones.

 

[Jeromeof]

If there an iPhone version?

I’m amazed this isn’t an integral part of any and every portable dac/amp review. It’s not as if there are only 2 or 3 people with iPhones.

Pretty soon iPhones will have USB-C connections so old lightning based dongles will start to disappear

 

[beefkabob]

Both my wife and son use Apple dongles on their Android phones. No issues so far. They do use other headphones a lot, though.

 

[TheWalkman]

My wife with her iPhone 11 for a while sent through an Apple dongle about once every 2 weeks. One has to be careful not to tug too heavily on it.

Natal,

I hear you. I have boxes of heat shrink tubing, so I cut a small piece and reinforce the far-too-thin wire on the Apple dongle. (Why they would choose such high gauge wire is beyond me.)

Added bonus: the red color makes it harder to lose as well as find in a tangle of earbuds!

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Pretty soon iPhones will have USB-C connections so old lightning based dongles will start to disappear

This is true. But (in the UK at least) most people are on a 2 year upgrade pattern, and we haven’t seen anything of an iPhone with USB-C. So it could be 3 years or more until most gave one, by which time anyone who’s bought this will be upgrading their dongle anyway.

Just my take on it.

 

[PeteL]

(Why they would choose such high gauge wire is beyond me.)

Because 9$

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I gave one of my dongles to my wife to use. Last a month before the cable became intermittent.

You gave your wife a measly dongle?
I had assumed you would have given her one of your Mojo2s, at least!

 

[Ken Tajalli]

Current consumption only 27mA IS great, wont drain Phone's battery that quick.

Even 50mA ain't much!
I assume, when the device is supplying max output, it would use about that much.
On a non-related subject:
My DIY cable
I made a DIY USB cable for my portable devices. On the cable there is a USB-HUB and a 500GB storage. So using the cable with my DAC and my phone, enables my phone to see the 500GB and play from it.
I had to test various tiny HUBs and Storage devices to get one that uses the least current.
The last I checked the cable in use, was using 75mA or so, and that did not drain my phone battery that quickly. My phone itself was using about 300mA by itself, just for comparison.

 

[fieldcar]

For those who are curious, the $9 one sold on Amazon is most likely a generic product "borrowing" the Meizu/MBLU brand naming.

mblu MEIZU USB C to 3.5mm Audio Adapter,Headphone Aux Jack Dongle Compatible with MEIZU 20 18 Samsung S23 Ultra S21 Note20, Pixel 6 Pro​

Amazon.com

Here are some measurements from my Cosmos ADC.

 

[Ismapics]

My wife with her iPhone 11 for a while sent through an Apple dongle about once every 2 weeks. One has to be careful not to tug too heavily on it.

Use heat shrink on it. Mine has lasted now for 2 years going on 3.

 

[Ismapics]

I gave one of my dongles to my wife to use. Last a month before the cable became intermittent.

Heart shrink it stiff and it will last,

 

[Ismapics]

Natal,

I hear you. I have boxes of heat shrink tubing, so I cut a small piece and reinforce the far-too-thin wire on the Apple dongle. (Why they would choose such high gauge wire is beyond me.)

Added bonus: the red color makes it harder to lose as well as find in a tangle of earbuds!

View attachment 300553

Exactly like I did.